Sunshine Sober Living is a family-owned structured sober living residence in Tarzana, about four to five miles east of Woodland Hills. Adults 21 and older from Woodland Hills and the West San Fernando Valley live substance-free while working, studying and attending meetings. Call 866-216-9789 to schedule a confidential assessment.
Woodland Hills sits at the west end of the Valley, and most people who ask about sober living in Woodland Hills are trying to protect something specific: a job at Warner Center, a class at Pierce College, a family home off Ventura Boulevard. The house schedule at Sunshine is built around those things rather than against them.
The house itself is at 5650 Donna Avenue in Tarzana, on a residential street north of Burbank Boulevard. It is family-owned, has served the recovery community since 2019, and takes men and women aged 21 and older, including people managing co-occurring conditions. The road-by-road version of the drive over sits on its own page.
Woodland Hills Community Church at 21338 Dumetz Road carries several AA meetings a day, including men’s stag meetings and a women’s Big Book study, which is why a resident on an unpredictable Warner Center shift can still get to one.
Mornings start early. A resident makes the bed, handles a chore, and leaves for work, school or an outpatient appointment. Evenings bring a meeting most nights and a curfew that applies to everyone. Elliot Leonard, the Program Director brings professional addiction-treatment experience, including previous work at Jaywalker Lodge, and the daily routine reflects that background.
Nothing in the schedule is designed to keep people indoors. The residence is substance-free and structured, not locked. Residents keep their phones, their jobs and their families. The rules exist so that the hours between five in the evening and eight in the morning, when early recovery most often comes apart, are accounted for rather than left open.
A typical weekday at the Donna Avenue house includes:
Warner Center is the West Valley’s central business district: office towers, the Campus at Warner Center, and the mid-rise apartments and big-box retail around Topanga Canyon Boulevard, Canoga Avenue and Owensmouth Avenue. A large share of Woodland Hills works inside that square mile. From 5650 Donna Avenue the commute runs west on Burbank Boulevard to Tampa Avenue, onto US-101 west, and off at Exit 26 for De Soto Avenue or Exit 27 for Topanga Canyon Boulevard.
Anyone commuting by bus should know one thing that catches people out. The Metro G Line has not stopped at Warner Center station directly since June 2018, and that station is now reached by a shuttle connection from Canoga station. Canoga also has a 246-space park-and-ride. De Soto and Pierce College stations cover the rest of the district, and Metro Line 150 runs Topanga Canyon Boulevard and Ventura Boulevard.
The density here is unusual. Woodland Hills Community Church at 21338 Dumetz Road is the busiest AA venue in the area, with several meetings a day listed by the San Fernando Valley AA Central Office, including a 12 and 12 group, a women’s Big Book study and men’s stag meetings. A resident working an unpredictable shift at Warner Center can still find one that fits the day, at a single address.
Other regular options across Woodland Hills:
Los Angeles Pierce College sits at 6201 Winnetka Avenue, close enough that a class schedule and a house schedule can hold at once. The G Line has a Pierce College station, and US-101 Exit 25 puts a driver on Winnetka Avenue. Going back to school works better planned deliberately than attempted all at once: a light first semester, registered around work and meeting commitments. Planning what comes after the house starts during the stay.
This page is the overview. Woodland Hills already has four pages that go further, and each answers a different question: what the men’s house asks of somebody, what the women’s residence protects, what recovery housing means in California terms, and how the bridge from discharge to an apartment gets built. Anyone comparing sober living homes in Woodland Hills should read the one that matches the person they are calling about.
Where to go from here:
Structured sober living in Woodland Hills and the wider West Valley is for adults who have finished a level of treatment but are not ready for an empty apartment. Sunshine Sober Living takes men and women aged 21 and older, including people managing co-occurring conditions. It is not a detox, not a rehabilitation hospital and not an intensive outpatient program. Admissions works with licensed California treatment facilities and Joint Commission-accredited facilities to arrange referrals for those levels of care.
SAMHSA names home as one of the four dimensions of recovery, alongside health, purpose and community, and its recovery housing guidance pairs a stable address with evidence-based outpatient treatment rather than treating housing as a substitute for care. NIDA associates better outcomes with support lasting longer than ninety days. That is the honest case for a stay measured in months. Admissions can check what a policy covers before anyone commits to a date.
These are the usual runs west from 5650 Donna Avenue.
| Destination | Route from the house | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|
| Warner Center offices | Burbank Boulevard, Tampa Avenue, US-101 west to Exit 26, De Soto Avenue | The West Valley’s central business district |
| Pierce College, 6201 Winnetka Avenue | US-101 west to Exit 25, north on Winnetka Avenue | Also served by the G Line Pierce College station |
| Woodland Hills Community Church, 21338 Dumetz Road | Ventura Boulevard west, past the Topanga Canyon Junction | Several AA meetings a day at one address |
| Kaiser Permanente Woodland Hills, 5601 De Soto Avenue | US-101 west to Exit 26, south on De Soto Avenue | The largest hospital campus in the district |
| Warner Center Park, 5800 Topanga Canyon Boulevard | US-101 west to Exit 27, Topanga Canyon Boulevard | Live at the Park meetings run outdoors here |
Each run is roughly four to five miles, ten to eighteen minutes off-peak.
From the Topanga Canyon Junction at Ventura Boulevard, the simplest run is east on Ventura Boulevard, north on Canoga Avenue to US-101 east, off at Exit 24 (Tampa Avenue), north on Tampa Avenue to Burbank Boulevard, east on Burbank Boulevard, then north on Donna Avenue. Staying on Victory Boulevard east and turning south on Tampa Avenue works just as well off-peak. That is about 4 to 5 miles, roughly 10-18 minutes in normal traffic.
Sunshine Sober LivingNo. The house is at 5650 Donna Avenue in Tarzana, four to five miles east of the Topanga Canyon Junction and ten to eighteen minutes away in normal traffic. Residents from the West San Fernando Valley tend to find that distance useful, because it puts a little air between a new routine and the addresses attached to an old one.
Yes. Work is expected rather than paused. The commute runs west along Burbank Boulevard to Tampa Avenue, then US-101 west to the De Soto Avenue or Topanga Canyon Boulevard exits. The house schedule is built around business hours, with chores in the morning and meetings in the evening, so a standard shift fits without special arrangements.
Not directly, and this trips up people planning a bus commute. Warner Center station lost direct G Line service in June 2018 and is now reached by a shuttle connection from Canoga station, which has a 246-space park-and-ride. De Soto and Pierce College stations cover the rest of Woodland Hills, and Chatsworth is the nearest Metrolink station.
No. Sunshine Sober Living is recovery housing rather than a licensed treatment facility. There is no detox on site, no medical care and no intensive outpatient program in the building. Residents attend outpatient care, therapy and twelve-step meetings out in the community while living in a substance-free house. Referrals to licensed California providers are arranged when a higher level of care is needed.
The first week is mostly about fixing the basics in place: a bed, a chore, a curfew, a home group and a plan for work or school. Wendy Goldberg, Founder and Director of Admissions, walks a new resident through what the house expects. Screening starts straight away. Most people find those seven days busier than they expected.
What we run is recovery housing: a substance-free address with rules, accountability and peer support. Clinical treatment belongs with licensed providers, and admissions can arrange that referral. Nobody, including us, can guarantee how any individual recovery will go. If you or someone you love needs immediate help, the SAMHSA National Helpline is free and confidential on 1-800-662-4357, 24 hours a day.
Most calls about the Donna Avenue house start the same way. A discharge date is set, and nobody is quite sure what comes next. That call is worth making early. Local reviewers give Sunshine Sober Living 4.7 out of 5. Call 866-216-9789 to schedule a confidential assessment, or read about the streets around the house in Tarzana first.